TEFL Heaven: Good. Media Kids: Bad

I was part of the TEFL training program in April 2012 on Koh Chang. First off I have to say the location is pretty amazing, especially reflecting from here in the cold and drizzly UK. There is plenty to do outside of course times, with Song Taews (pick up trucks installed with bench seats) available to take you from the admittedly remote (though tranquil) resort of Siam Bay to Tai Bay for shopping, or the other direction to Lonely Beach's nightspots. Alternatively hire a scooter and head to White Sands for beachside cocktails, or drive further afield and visit one of the many swimmable waterfalls. Wow, I'm making myself miss it typing this! The accommodation was basic but livable, being comfortable enough with air con and soft beds. As for the Krabi course getting a better deal, I was informed by my friend who'd been on that course that the resort was so swish the company effectively made no profit, so no one in the future will be getting such a good deal. They were just lucky this time.

On to the course though, and while intense at times (some days while doing essays can be a full 12 hour day), there was always an effort to make it enjoyable from the two main trainers. It was 100% face to face, none of this internet rubbish other TEFL providers offer, and included evaluated time teaching in island schools. Despite what some others have said, I would argue that teaching in Thailand is not the hardest job in the world, and therefore you don't need people with years of experience training you - don't kid yourself this is a professional career you're getting into! If you can dance around and shout some English (or French, or whatever, they honestly wouldn't know the difference), the kids will be thrilled by the big white clown - anything else is superfluous.

Once I left the course and was handed over to TEFL heaven's partner agency, Media Kids, things started going downhill. I am dismayed that such an incompetent collection of people are allowed to run such a company. Their 'training' in Bangkok was a complete waste of time. Once we arrived in our placement town, we literally had to fend for ourselves - the partner organization, Media Kids, had done nothing to orientate us there, and our introduction to the school was looking it up on google maps and wandering in the first morning asking for the English department. They were even worse when it came to work permits and visas (made worse by our horrifically irritating excuse for a consultant, who thought the best way to placate your anger at him lying to you about matters that could get you thrown out the country was to make puppy dog eyes and stroke your arm). I can't say I was too happy with the school either, who started us on ~16 contact hours per week and by the end had gradually pushed the uncomplaining falangs up to ~25+ with no extra pay. This was while they sat around at their desks gossiping, stuffing sticky rice into their mouths and watching YouTube, waiting for the next class in a sparsely populated 10 contact hour week (btw TEFL teachers weren't allowed to interact with each other - we did and got moved desks because "falang no sit together"). The final straw was when they arbitrarily decided we would work all Saturdays in September with no extra pay, so ~30+ hours on a 16 hour contact. As we had heard reports of the partner organization not paying people for their worked month (so £600) who gave notice, 3 out of 4 of us foreign teachers did a runner the day after payday.